In the seasonal explosion of a very peculiar type of life in this coastal forest, interesting fungi miniatures can be found everywhere ...
... attached to the twigs, ad example ...
... or sprouting from seeds, fallen from shrubs and trees.
It's not uncommon to find formations made of minuscule fungi growing on larger mushrooms ... like this mold covering the russula ochroleuca.
In this episode you'll be watching mostly small fungi on photographs ... and many of the species here are completely new for me, I noticed them for the first time while wandering through the woods in search of stuff to put in this series of posts. The Hydnellum concrescens on this photograph can grow a bit larger and change their color into darker brown.
I don't know how common are they in general, but it seems that here are pretty rare - I never saw them before this autumn.
When I took a better look, I noticed that they grow attached to the fallen leaves ...
... and have their lower side covered with interesting texture ... that wasn't looking very good when photographed with the flash on in the dark environment of the dense forest... so I fixed my camera on the ground ...
... to take a few long exposure shots ...
... and let the natural light show how cool these spike - like protuberances look.
Patchworks of various molds, and mold - like formations are carpeting the floor.
Some look very spongy in macro view ... this ant was taking chunks of the orange colored thing on which he's standing on in this picture.
Some centimeters further ... I came upon a small spider crouched on the fallen leaf ... when I pushed him with the finger he started running, but it was a short run, so I wasn't able to take a shot which will show the spider better than this one, where he's crouched.
Soon the spider fell on the ground and started pretending that is dead.
It looked like the poor arachnid experienced a sudden heart attack in the middle of the run. I sat down and watched him in hope that he will resume the run ... or just slowly start to walk in search for some shelter underneath the fallen leaves, which will give me another opportunity for a better shot. I was waiting, minutes were passing ... very slowly ... and then ...
... just a moment before I gave up, the ant passed by, found the seemingly dead spider and bite his leg ...
... that made the spider move ... and I was finally able to take this shot ... where you can take a good look at this species.
On this small orange fungi ... I don't know the species ...
... I found another arachnid ... a very tiny one ... more micro than macro, actually ... some kind of mite. Among these varied and colorful miniatures ...
... I found also some larger mushrooms ... and although the accent here is on small, often hard to notice fungi formations ... I show you also some typical umbrella shaped mushrooms in this episode.
This is the completely inedible and slightly poisonous Amanita citrina. The one on this photograph is slightly withered ... but on the following shot ...
... you can see how elegant they can be when in their prime.
I like these mushrooms ... I mean, not eat them :D just see them around ... and take a shot or two occasionally.
These are some pretty massive mushrooms ...
... large and robust ... I see them regularly in this forest ... but I can't tell you what species they are.
The lovely and edible Cantharellus cibarius are also a regular finding.
While photographing this half buried one ...
... I noticed two small, fragile mushrooms growing beside the chanterelle ...
... so I mounted my macro lens to take a better look.
It was a fantastic little fungi scene ...
... when seen from the right angle.
Then I took this, more distant shot, where you can see all the mushrooms involved, from the cap to the bottom. The scene was in shade, so I used the flash that gave this unremarkable light ... but then ...
... a ray of sunlight fell on the mushrooms, I still used the flash but I lowered considerably the shutter speed ... and that resulted in a considerably better atmosphere.
I like to be concentrated on these small changes while photographing. The time kind of slows down, it's a slightly trippy feeling with no drugs involved.
Some hours later I was photographing this mushroom, some red species of Russula ... and here again ...
... I found the small, fragile mushrooms.
Not far from there I found this slightly bigger, but still pretty small mushroom, much smaller than chanterelle or any kind of Russula, growing on a fallen twig.
When I got closer ...
... I noticed some insect activity ...
... rove beetles running around the lower side of the mushroom ...
... and hiding between the gills.
They were very small ...
... but I was able to observe the scene through my macro equipment.
It was mating time for this species.
The females were hidden between the gills ...
... and males were exploring the mushroom in search for them. A few steps further ...
... I found a walnut laying on the forest floor ... and then ...
... I found some kind of much smaller, nut - like seed nearby ...
... a small seed covered with minuscule fungi.
I had to use all the magnification my macro lens could provide ... and a bit of cropping as well ... to obtain this picture.
These are the Hymenoscyphus fructigenus, and I had a great time exploring and photographing these small fungi I never noticed before.
This is a detail from another seed of the same kind ...
... and you can see the same kind of fungi on the photograph ... but on the top of this fungi miniature ...
... you can also see a minuscule mite. An hour or so later ...
... after photographing this Leccinellum lepidum bolete ...
... and some pretty generic looking Lactarius mushrooms ...
... that I wasn't able to identify ... I mean, I identified them as part of the Genus Lactarius from the Russulaceae family ... but I can't tell you what species they are exactly ... after all that relatively large stuff ...
... I found some kind of acorn ... and the interesting small Ciboria batschiana fungi growing on it. Soon after this shot ...
... I noticed a small, sponge like formation on the nearby shrub.The shot taken with the flash on didn't look good enough ... it was showing some nice details but the atmosphere and the real elegance of the fungi just wasn't there ...
... so I somehow managed to take a long exposure shot with natural light. It wasn't easy because of the position of the fungi.
Then ... after many failed attempts, I took another long exposure shot from a different angle ... that reveals more ... and the fungi looks considerably different.
I got tired of the long exposure ... so I took another shot with the flash on ... slightly changing the angle ... to show better the entire shape. It wasn't a bad shot ...
... but some obsessive compulsive urge made me do another (well, practically the same) shot with natural light ... and then ...
... the same kind of obsessive compulsive thing ...
... made me put all these similar looking, slightly unnecessary shots in the post.
After all these shots ... taken from all these different angles ... I still can't tell you what species is this ... could be a small Trametes suaveolens that just started to grow and develop ... but who knows ... well, I surely don't.
This group of Corticioid fungi of some kind ...
... also grew nearby ... on a larger piece of decaying wood.
Among them, I found a multitude of these vivid orange, minuscule and jelly - like fungi things.
A bunch of lovely, coral -like clavarioid fungi was growing down on the ground ...
... among the rotting leaves ...
... giving a slightly underwater look to the entire scene.
Not far from there I found this fungi formation ... that looked slightly similar, and also slightly coral - like ... but also obviously like a completely different story ... the one I can't tell you ... because I have no information about this species ... that I saw for the first time on that occasion.
After this shot ... while sitting in the same spot ...
... I noticed and photographed a small spider on the lower side of the fallen leaf ... with a minuscule pinky springtail posing on the upper side of the same leaf, above the spider.
Half an hour later, I found these really large and beautiful mushrooms ... that could be the very edible Calocybe gambosa ... or the very poisonous Entoloma sinuatum ... both species look like this to a non - expert like me. After this shot ...
... I noticed that the sun is pretty low in the sky, behind the dense vegetation ... so I tried to catch a sparkle to enhance the photograph ... after some unsuccessful shots, I got it ... and you can see that twinkling little star on this picture.
When I left these mushrooms ...
... I found another lovely looking species that I couldn't identify.
I took another shot ... that include a look at the surroundings ... and then ...
... ... I went out of the dense forest. It was time to go home - THE END.
As always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work ... and all were taken in between 22 and 25.10.2020.
I'll put all posts of this series on Pinmapple, because there is no better way to explain where in the world this interesting forest is.